Staff Engineer, Backend - Citizen Health

About Us

At Citizen Health, we're on a mission to revolutionize rare disease research and patient care through the power of data and technology. Founded by individuals with personal connections to rare diseases, we've built a groundbreaking platform that empowers patients to take control of their health information and accelerate scientific breakthroughs. Our team of passionate builders, advocates, clinicians, and engineers is united around an audacious vision: to provide any patient, at any stage of any condition, with immediate access to exceptional personalized guidance.

The Role

We're seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to lead the development of our robust, scalable backend systems that power our patient-centric platform. This role is crucial in designing and implementing the core infrastructure that enables seamless data integration, analysis, and AI-driven insights across our ecosystem.

As a key technical leader, you'll be at the forefront of leveraging healthcare interoperability standards, including FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), and state-of-the-art AI technologies to build innovative solutions that directly impact rare disease research and patient care.

Your work will be instrumental in translating complex health data into actionable insights, facilitating groundbreaking research, and enabling the seamless flow of information between patients, healthcare providers, and researchers using advanced AI techniques.

This is a hybrid role based out of our office in San Mateo, CA requiring 2-3 days in office.

Responsibilities   

• Architect and implement high-performance, scalable backend solutions using modern technologies, healthcare interoperability standards like FHIR, and advanced AI/ML technologies
• Lead the design and development of RESTful APIs and microservices that support our patient, partner, and internal-facing applications
• Integrate and optimize AI models, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs), using frameworks like LangChain and LlamaIndex
• Implement Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems to enhance the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated insights in the healthcare context
• Design and implement efficient data pipelines to support AI model training and inference
• Optimize data processing and storage solutions to handle large volumes of complex health data efficiently
• Collaborate with data scientists and researchers to implement advanced analytics and AI models that derive insights from patient data
• Ensure the highest standards of data security and privacy compliance
• Lead efforts to enhance system reliability and performance, including implementing monitoring, logging, alerting and auto scaling systems for both traditional backend services and AI components
• Mentor junior backend developers and contribute to the team's technical growth
• Participate in code reviews to ensure high code quality, maintainability, and adherence to best practices across the team
• Stay current with backend best practices, emerging AI technologies, and industry trends, particularly those relevant to healthcare interoperability and AI in healthcare

Must-Have Skills

• 7+ years of experience in backend development, with a focus on building scalable, distributed systems
• Strong proficiency in one or more modern programming languages (e.g., Node.js, Java, Python)
• Experience with healthcare interoperability standards, particularly FHIR
• Strong understanding of RESTful API design and Microservices architectures
• Experience with cloud platforms (preferably AWS) and containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes)
• Proficiency in working with both relational and NoSQL databases. 

Preferred Skills

• Hands-on experience integrating and optimizing Large Language Models (LLMs) in production environments
• Proficiency with LLM tools and techniques such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, Prompt Engineering
• Experience implementing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems
• Familiarity with vector databases and efficient similarity search techniques for AI applications
• Experience with message queuing systems and data streaming platforms
• Familiarity with data processing and analytics technologies
• Proven track record of high-quality coding and architectural design 
• Passion for creating robust, scalable, AI-driven systems that make a real-world impact in healthcare

At Citizen Health, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome candidates from all backgrounds to apply. We particularly encourage applications from individuals with personal or family experiences with rare diseases, as your insights could be invaluable to our mission.

California Base Pay Range: $200,000 - $235,000

This salary range is an estimate, and the actual salary may vary based on a wide range of factors, including your skills, qualifications, experience and location. This position is eligible for stock options and other benefits including but not limited to Medical, Dental, Vision insurance. We also offer unlimited PTO and a paid new parent leave program so you can spend time with your new child.